English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I am old now
Generations have passed
Attitudes and cultural norms
Have changed
I often wonder how my family
Would view this evolution
So deep was their belief
In the supremacy
Of the male
Surprisingly my mother
Held this view
Perhaps more than any other
Not her fault
Not a matter of fault
Her generation’s norms
Decreed how she saw the world
As much as later generations
Prescribe the ‘newer’ views
Perhaps it is only
The accident of time
Whether you are born
To a generation that can embrace you
Or cannot
Much like a family…..
When I was young
A lack of externally configured genitalia
Meant everything
The limit of success allowed
The extent of intelligence
The room for talent
In some ways
No lesser love
Just oddly expressed
And confined
A girl loved more in spite of herself
Than for herself
She being a girl
I learned the stigma of the female
In that world
I experienced it directly
But would not let it define me
I remember a teacher saying once
‘Helen thinks like a man’
And perhaps I did
Perhaps I did
Perhaps I had to……
A poem for mindlovemisery’s current prompt exercise – Stigma – at http//mindlovemisery.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/prompt-3-stigma
This is probably a bit of a stretch for her topic but she asked for something personal, so this is what occurred to me. 🙂
(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved
helenvalentina 
This is perfect for the prompt Helen =) I love it and I really feel I learned something about you that I did not know truly this is fabulous I am so glad you shared. There are definitely stigmas attached to being male/female
Thank you!! 🙂 🙂
This is most excellent Sis xxx
Thanks Roxi, much appreciated!! xxx 🙂 🙂
I hope you don’t think like a man any more. I’ve seen the way most men think and, to be honest, I’m not even sure that ‘think’ is the right word. ‘Brain grunt’ would be better description in most cases.
LOL…I’m not sure there really is a male or female way of thinking…my teacher meant the comment as a compliment, he was saying that, on the basis of an essay I wrote, that I thought logically and wrote with good structure…to him that was thinking like a man…another sign of those particular times, LOL. 🙂
the next generation will see a lot of change in everyway of life, i’m sure of it.
one of my dads female relatives frown on me for raising my child: only a woman should raise a child lmao, there’s good and bad in each gender, old beliefs will die out if we disprove them. 🙂
Absolutely – I didn’t mean to imply there is anything bad in being a man, or better in being a woman…my point is we should be more gender neutral, but society tends to determine how we see things. 🙂
🙂
Makes one think. I would like to come back in the year 2113 to see how it works out.
Yes, it would be fascinating…culture seems to change so slowly while it is happening but then when you look back 20 or 30 years you realise how significant those changes actually are. 🙂
I applaud you
Thank you, that is so kind!! 🙂
I believe that most of us in the “older” generation grew up with that mind set…male or female…that was what was believed and accepted. The beautiful part is that over a very short span of 30 or forty years it has changed and changed dramatically because we live in a country and an age that allows wrongs to be changed.or corrected. True, they don’t happen over night, but they are happening here as opposed to other parts of the world where we are very lucky not to live.
Very true…I do think it is amazing how much has changed in that period of time, and I definitely agree that earlier generations were taught that mindset…that’s why I don’t blame my family, I just experienced it and learned from it, hopefully. 🙂
and perhaps i had too…what a close on this…i think sometimes history and generations have to be ready for it…and sometimes whether they are ready or not it is time…and we have to do what we have to do to see the change happen…and still yet it happens…very cool, honest write
Thank you so much, very much appreciated!! 🙂
Superbly done and there is much I recognise here.
I grew up in a generation where a females goal was to be married and have children – that was my goal too. We have progressed and seemingly the world is our oyster – although strictly it is still not, there are invisible yet very visible barriers to advancement…
In the wider world females remain very much oppressed – their worth being measured in producing children and obedience…
Anna :o]
So true! thank you so much for your comments, they shed a broader and important light on the theme of the poem, much appreciated!! 😉